Home  New York Notes Bloom on NYHS Sdtrk
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In Nov. 2007, flutist/ saxophonist Peter Bloom and his 19th-century period music group may be heard on the soundtrack for an intriguing new exhibit at the New York Historical Society, French Founding Father: Lafayette's Return to Washington's America. Click here to see more about the exhibit.
FRENCH FOUNDING FATHER: LAFAYETTE’S RETURN TO WASHINGTON’S AMERICA
The Mount Vernon Estate is organizing a traveling exhibition entitled "A Son and His Adopted Father: George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette." From the time the young Lafayette arrived in America in 1777 to aid the colonists' fight for freedom, he forged a close bond with General Washington. Despite the differences of language, age and upbringing, the young man and the senior general formed a lifelong friendship. A common belief in human liberty and a democratic society helped them work together as two inspirational leaders. Observers, at the time and later, thought the dashing young Frenchman seemed like an ideal son to Washington who had no children of his own. The exhibition deals with the revolutionary period in the rebellious colonies, Lafayette's tumultuous experiences in the French Revolution and the memory of Lafayette embedded in statues, street names and ephemera. Over 100 objects, paintings, sculpture; books, prints, manuscripts, decorative arts and memorabilia tell the story of an enduring friendship. Click here to see more about the exhibit.
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Contents include the powerful Afro-jazz grooves of title track “The Seeker” (written for the Fifteenth Annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert), the evocative winds and piano of “Heartsong” (dedicated to Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Burmese democracy activist Daw Aung San Suu Kyi) and the multifaceted forty minute opus “Passages/Psalms IV” as given this past April in its premiere performance at MIT. This is imaginative, high energy music for the open ear, mind and heart.
